Local Company Be Green Packaging wins Global Packaging Award

DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers has announced the winners of its 23rd Annual Awards for Packaging Innovation, naming Be Green Packaging and Proctor & Gamble as the recipients of its highest honor, the prestigious Diamond Award. The companies garnered the accolade for their recent collaboration on the design of Gillette’s new Fusion Pro Glide razor packaging trays. The new trays, which are composed of plant-based fibers, reduced cost and material weight while maintaining Gillette’s distinctive product packaging. Be Green is known for its line of compostable and recyclable packaging that is also manufactured from plant-based materials similar to those used in the Gillette Fusion ProGlide trays.

DuPont gives Diamond Awards only to those companies that demonstrate extraordinary levels of innovation, commitment to the principles of sustainability, and cost/waste reduction. Of this years 200+ applicants from around the world, only two were chosen to receive this honor. In addition to the Be Green Packaging/P&G team, Ecovative Design also received recognition for its line of protective secondary packaging created from a combination of mycelium (mushroom roots) and regionally sourced agricultural byproducts. Entries were reviewed by an independent panel of judges comprised of top executives from across the packaging and sustainability industries.

“The Packaging Awards program is an opportunity to celebrate how collaborating throughout the value chain can bring cost-effective innovation to the market to help solve the big issues,” said Shanna Moore, global director of sustainable packaging at DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers. “The Gillette Fusion ProGlide packaging captures the spirit of innovation to resolve complex global challenges.”

Be Green’s proprietary technology allows it to create a wide range of consumer, industrial, and food grade packaging from a mix of plant-based fibers. WIld-harvested, annually renewable plants are formed into an array of shapes and sizes using advanced moulding processes that can be adapted to meet nearly any specification. The company maintains stringent eco-certifications from third party organizations such as the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute and the Biodegradable Products Institute to ensure transparency in its manufacturing operations.

“Be Green are leaders in the green packaging industry. Their pressed plant-fiber manufacturing capabilities are what initially attracted me to the company and they worked closely with us [Gillette] to develop the Fusion ProGlide tray. We had tight deadlines and they delivered, everytime.” said Mike Marcinowski, principal research and development engineer of Proctor & Gamble’s global packaging development division. “There has been a big push within the packaging industry to reduce the environmental impacts of our products. We chose Be Green to manufacture the Gillette Fusion ProGlide tray because they had the plant-fiber technology we needed with a host of eco-certifications to back it up.”

“We are extremely pleased to have won this award in partnership with P&G” commented Robert Richman, chairman and president of manufacturing. “The DuPont award is a milestone for both companies. By maintaining a high-level of transparency in all our interactions we were able to develop truly innovative packaging for the Gillette Fusion Pro Glide. Our recipe for success is simple: collaboration and transparency through every step of the process.”

“This award proves that it is possible to bring sustainable green solutions to the marketplace at lower costs than traditional packaging while significantly lowering a company’s packaging footprint” said Ron Blitzer, CEO of Be Green Packaging in regards to the recent announcement. “For consumers and retailers alike, this collaboration is providing a template for the next generation in packaging. This is a big win for not only Be Green and P&G/Gillette, but consumers as well.”

The Gillette Fusion Pro Glide razor is currently available in a number of European markets, including the United Kingdom.

In addition to P&G, Be Green is currently supplying food service packaging to Whole Foods Market and 7-11, among others. The company will be expanding its global manufacturing operations by opening the nation’s first plant-fiber manufacturing facility based on the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute’s standards later this year in Jasper county South Carolina.